South African Minister of State Security Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba makes it clear that while the Jewish community is under no particular threat, the department of state security takes seriously its mandate to protect the country’s citizens.

Lawyers are preparing criminal and civil charges following one of the darkest weeks of anti-Semitism in South Africa. There have been a slew of vile incidents that sent shock waves through the community.

The SA Friends of the Beit Halochem Zahal Disabled Veterans Organisation was established in Johannesburg in 1982, its primary goal being to help and support Zahal disabled veterans by raising funds to help them return and resume their normal lives as soon as possible.

Dr Ali Bacher, former South African cricket captain and administrator, was one of the five recipients of the 2018 Steve Tshwete Lifetime Achievement Awards at the SA Sport Awards held in Bloemfontein on Sunday night.

Devotion to the cause of the State of Israel flourishes in the most unlikely places, even in societies where the Jewish presence is small to non-existent. Such is the case in Mozambique, where the work of Beth-El Associacao Crista Amigos De Israel - Mozambican Christian Friends of Israel - testifies to how much can be achieved by those inspired by their Christian faith to promote the Israeli cause, despite adverse conditions.

JNF’s unique “Blue Boy Box” now lives at King David Linksfield Pre-Primary so that children of each generation learn the importance of tzedakah (charity or welfare). It is the responsibility of Jews all over the world to build Israel, develop it and nurture it as the home of the Jewish nation

“Knowledge is Light” was our school motto when I was a child in Durban. The importance of education was made clear to us from as far back as I can remember. It wasn’t taken for granted. A good education was a privilege.

Late on Tuesday, a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect. While at the time of writing the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) had still not confirmed the existence of such a truce, Israeli citizens living in the south of the country were told they could return home and to “normalcy”.

The Israeli gymnastics team was out in full force at 48th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships that began at Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar, on Thursday. There are five males and two females in the team headed by new Israeli sensation Artem Dolgopyat. The others are Alexander Shatilov, Ilan Korchak, Andrey Medvedev, and Michael Sorokine, while the women are Ofir Netzer and Meitar Lavy.

As I was heading home on Tuesday, I heard on ChaiFM that 460 rockets had been fired from Gaza into Israel since late Sunday. That is an outrageous number. If every one of them hit inhabited areas, thousands of Israelis would have been killed.

“The president is not directly responsible for acts of domestic terrorism, but he should be more careful with his language.” That’s the way the Economist headlined its report on the horrific Pittsburgh killings just more than two weeks ago.

With Prince William’s historic visit to Israel this week, all eyes have been trained on the Jewish capital. It may have taken 70 years, but the first official visit by a member of the British Royal family began in Israel on Monday, when William, the Duke of Cambridge, arrived in Tel Aviv.

Some 5 600 emissaries (shluchim) from Chabad-Lubavitch from all over the world gathered at the Pier 8 warehouse in Brooklyn, New York this week for the opening of their four-day annual international conference and banquet, 75 years after the arrival of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, from Europe.

“The greatness of our nation is that our people are great. We are a nation of heroes, of people with good and decent moral fibre who will not tolerate our country being plundered!” So said Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein in Pretoria this morning.“This is a struggle for accountability and justice,” Goldstein told the crowd (which included prominent Jewish CEOs like Adrian Gore, Stephen Koseff and Michael Katz). “This struggle is about sovereignty. The power of the people always triumphs in the end.”

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Youth

Living in Sandton’s CBD is always exciting. In the past few days, I witnessed some remarkable events. Late last Thursday night, while driving home with the heat turned up in my car, I drove past the CEO SleepOut, where prominent captains of industry spent the night “cozily” tucked into cardboard boxes outside the JSE.

In this parsha we are taught that slander - lashon hara” - is not only when speaking evil against a person but also finding fault in the land itself. The fruit of Israel was not normal, the people were giants and the land consumed its inhabitants.

Would one examine the entire Ten Commandments, which are mentioned twice in the Torah, once in Parshat Yitro and once again towards the end of the Torah in Deuteronomy, one would immediately notice that despite their universal appeal, there is not even one single novel idea.

Generally, among secular Jews in the Diaspora, Shavuot is not considered a highly important festival, save, perhaps, for those who go to synagogue to say Yizkor, a service conducted on the three pilgrim festivals. The other two pilgrim festivals are Pesach and Succot.

Our parsha, Emor, opens with the laws that Kohanim must observe. These laws are relatively few (these days) but where they do apply, they grab your attention. Essentially they affect a Kohen when he wants to marry or when he is near a dead body.

Geographic boundaries have been redrawn on the “muddy” (or rather “bloody”!) grounds of the lands of the “Arab Winter” and parts of Central Africa. Not even the Mediterranean Sea is enough of a boundary to keep desperate migrants from looking for a better life (or rather a life!) in Europe.

An observant Jew was experiencing a crisis of faith. He decided to sneak into a non-kosher restaurant and have a fling. He orders “you know what”, and is pumping adrenalin big time, full of nervous anticipation of what that forbidden “white meat” really tastes like.

Beth Din warns kosher shelves not all Pesachdik except at KosherWorld, and issued a host of other Pesach advisories today. The kashrut division of the Union of Orthodox Synagogues advises that the "Pesach section" in retail stores is not under Beth Din supervision. Beth Din certification extends only to the products, and the Beth Din has no control over how independent retailers pack their shelves. ALSO LINKS TO ALL BETH DIN PESACH GUIDES ON SAJR ONLINE...

Jewish Report Online publishes the four official SA Beth Din guides in handy PDF format so users can download them, print them or even forward on to family and friends. The four documents include: The 5775 full Pesach guide; the 5775 Pesach medications guide; the 5775 Pesach products guide; and the 5775 Online sale of Chametz form.

Prior to the dramatic splitting of the Red Sea that took place after the Exodus, the Israelites found themselves between a rock and a hard place. The Egyptian chariots were closing in from behind and the sea was in front. Some of the people panicked and complained; others held fast and prayed; some were prepared to go to war.

Any video that can crack 200 000 views in two days is hot. A purely Jewish one for Pesach delivering those numbers is smoking!. “Hope your Pesach is as funky fresh as can be!” say the guys from Six13. This song, like all of Six13 songs, is a cappella. They also released a brand-new album last week called Six13, Vol 6: Thirteen. “We're extremely proud of it and hope you'll download it on iTunes!” they said.